Oil Leak - Need Help with Possible Causes

[lucidberries]

I more so want to fix whatever's causing the leak rather than band-aid it!

Did this turn out to be the culprit?

Am in a similar boat - my local shop said is either the VC, oil pan, or rear main seal but they can't tell.

Is there a way to confirm the VC are leaking without pulling anything? Front is all very clean and I felt around all along the back side where the half moons but don't think I felt any fresh oil vs old stuff from before the previous owner replaced them on my rig.

 

[JoeT4R]

Did this turn out to be the culprit?



Am in a similar boat - my local shop said is either the VC, oil pan, or rear main seal but they can't tell.



Is there a way to confirm the VC are leaking without pulling anything? Front is all very clean and I felt around all along the back side where the half moons but don't think I felt any fresh oil vs old stuff from before the previous owner replaced them on my rig.

Take a strong powered flashlight and poke around-- visually inspect the valve covers as closely as possible. You don't need to pull anything for this

Sent from my SM-S908U using Tapatalk

 

[lucidberries]

Take a strong powered flashlight and poke around-- visually inspect the valve covers as closely as possible. You don't need to pull anything for this

Sent from my SM-S908U using Tapatalk

Can't see any oil from the top side whatsoever but when I run the truck up the mountain I do get a bit of that burning oil smell. Am seeing 1 or 2 drops every few days when the vehicle is parked.

 

[Bad Luck]

Can't see any oil from the top side whatsoever but when I run the truck up the mountain I do get a bit of that burning oil smell. Am seeing 1 or 2 drops every few days when the vehicle is parked.

Crawl underneath and check for leaks then.

 

[lucidberries]

Take a strong powered flashlight and poke around-- visually inspect the valve covers as closely as possible. You don't need to pull anything for this

Sent from my SM-S908U using Tapatalk

Would you be able to confidently say whether the valve cover is leaking or not by looking from the top? (from the bottom there is oil everywhere so not helpful) Trying to make the call to replace the value covers as a logical step 1 but not sure...

 

[JoeT4R]

Would you be able to confidently say whether the valve cover is leaking or not by looking from the top? (from the bottom there is oil everywhere so not helpful) Trying to make the call to replace the value covers as a logical step 1 but not sure...

I mean you can open the hood and look right at them and see if there's any seepage coming out of them. If so, you can do a few things.

1. Spray everything down with a good degreaser (honestly I use brake parts cleaner, lol)

2. Gently tighten your valve cover bolts

3. If, after a period of time after completing steps 1 & 2, you're still experiencing oil seepage, I'd go ahead and replace the valve cover gaskets.

VCG's are not a difficult job to do and are generally a good maintenance item to cover if you plan to hang onto your rig for a decent period of time. Nobody wants to deal with an oil leak that keeps coming back.

 

[Bad Luck]

I mean you can open the hood and look right at them and see if there's any seepage coming out of them. If so, you can do a few things.

1. Spray everything down with a good degreaser (honestly I use brake parts cleaner, lol)

2. Gently tighten your valve cover bolts

3. If, after a period of time after completing steps 1 & 2, you're still experiencing oil seepage, I'd go ahead and replace the valve cover gaskets.

VCG's are not a difficult job to do and are generally a good maintenance item to cover if you plan to hang onto your rig for a decent period of time. Nobody wants to deal with an oil leak that keeps coming back.

Just wanted to second this and really stress the GENTLY tightening those bolts. The torque spec on those is super low!

 

[lucidberries]

I mean you can open the hood and look right at them and see if there's any seepage coming out of them. If so, you can do a few things.

1. Spray everything down with a good degreaser (honestly I use brake parts cleaner, lol)

2. Gently tighten your valve cover bolts

3. If, after a period of time after completing steps 1 & 2, you're still experiencing oil seepage, I'd go ahead and replace the valve cover gaskets.

VCG's are not a difficult job to do and are generally a good maintenance item to cover if you plan to hang onto your rig for a decent period of time. Nobody wants to deal with an oil leak that keeps coming back.

Yes of course, trying to put this leak to bed but my situation is the dealer replaced the VC a few years ago (via the previous owner) and there is no visible seepage anywhere looking from the front at the top but there is oil dripping quite a bit underneath.

I am trying to decern if I should get the VC done again (perhaps they missed sealing the back cam plugs or something) but the shop also thinks might be the rear main so trying to rule it out as best I can

 

[JoeT4R]

Yes of course, trying to put this leak to bed but my situation is the dealer replaced the VC a few years ago (via the previous owner) and there is no visible seepage anywhere looking from the front at the top but there is oil dripping quite a bit underneath.

I am trying to decern if I should get the VC done again (perhaps they missed sealing the back cam plugs or something) but the shop also thinks might be the rear main so trying to rule it out as best I can

It definitely could be a rear main leak. I'm curious if mine is leaking, too. If you're gonna do the work on the valve cover gaskets yourself, then okay cool, save the money on labor. But if you don't have reason to believe that's the source of your leak then I certainly wouldn't be going and paying someone to do them over again.

 

[Bad Luck]

Yes of course, trying to put this leak to bed but my situation is the dealer replaced the VC a few years ago (via the previous owner) and there is no visible seepage anywhere looking from the front at the top but there is oil dripping quite a bit underneath.

I am trying to decern if I should get the VC done again (perhaps they missed sealing the back cam plugs or something) but the shop also thinks might be the rear main so trying to rule it out as best I can

You can see the back of both heads from under the vehicle. Also the valve cover bolts are known to loosen over time so it’s worth checking them regardless.